Hanoi (5 of 5 -- travels in Vietnam)

After returning from my trip to Halong Bay, I had ~24 hours to explore Hanoi, and complete my trek to Vietnam. Halong Bay is the antithesis of Hanoi - quiet and peaceful vs. hectic and loud! Hanoi opened its borders to western investment ~5 years ago, and the results are starting to show, but the city still maintains a somewhat communist feel. The architecture and city landscape around the Old Quarter, which is the main traveler's destination, is both impressive and beautiful, with a strong French influence. Some of these images are captured below.

A view of one of the many roundabouts in the area. Though not clearly captured in this picture, the motorbikes are numerous! There is probably a 19/20 ratio of motorbikes to cars.


Saigon is similar to Hanoi in the pace of life and crowded feel, but the cramped feel of Hanoi's streets are even more exaggerated. This picture shows a common city street scene. Of particular interest is the construction project going on right in the middle between two adjoining buildings. Building a house with literally no room on either side is a talent that I doubt their American counterpars could ever handle.


A view of the walk out from my hotel to the lake. Note, this is NOT a special market -- this is simply the normal scene of a main city street in the old quarter -- 2-way moving motorbikes, parked bikes, vendors, locals, tourists all combined into a ~10-12 foot width.


...and another, even more crowded view.

That night, I met two guys -- one from America and one from England-- who were both living and working in Hanoi at, you guessed it, the local pool hall. We chatted and played pool for ~3 hours before venturing out to a few other bars, and finally arriving at the hot club in town -- New Century Club. This was a wild scene, though very similar to many others -- go-go dancers, stiff - expensive drinks, tourists, and locals. Most interestingly, the locals seemed to outnumber the tourist which was a nice change. I lasted for ~2 hours, but had to call it a night after the exhaustion from the extensive travels had finally caught up with me.

The next day, I awoke in the morning, or close enough (i.e. noon!), and headed out for a jog around Hoan Kiem Lake, a southern landmark of the old quarter. It's probably about 1-1.5 km around, so I enjoyed 3 or 4 laps. The lake is thankfully peaceful, and provides a nice break from the city around.

A view of a popular restaurant on the shore.

There is a pagoda (partly shown below) that sits in the middle of the lake. I never made it out as my tourist pagoda interest had reached its limit.

After my run, I headed up to an indoor market, Dong Xuan Market, which I had heard many good things about. Standing two stories, this market packed in everything of a normal U.S. mall into about 1/10 of the space -- literally! This is a view from the second level looking down.

Here is a better view of a common 'hallway' between the stores. There is very little room to maneuver, and it is quite difficult to stop and view hardly anything. The vietnamese are obviously quite accustomed to this however. I can only imagine their fascination if they walked into Park Meadows mall (a recent, HUGE mall in SE Denver) and found that the common hallways are easily 2-3 times as large as their streets!

Finally, my Vietnamese adventure had come to a close. I headed back to Bangkok on Monday night, and resumed the second part of my studies on Tuesday morning. My next adventure, possibly to the Phillipines, will most likely take place in two weeks -- i.e. 2/3 -> 2/11 -- during another lull in classes.